July 4th

Ok, yes, dropped the ball, failed to blog. I better get past this intro or I'll never get an actual post done.

Theo actually watched fireworks on the 4th. It was not in our original plan, for multiple reasons. Theo's bedtime is about 7pm and the fireworks didn't start until 9. If he fell asleep by showtime, there would be no way for him to sleep through it, since my family likes to sit as close to the launch point as possible. Waking during explosions doesn't sound like fun. If he stayed awake late enough, he'd be a disaster anyway and there would be no way he'd enjoy it.

Turned out, Theo had other ideas. He stayed awake all afternoon while we visited family, hours past his naptime. When we drove to the fireworks spot at the park he fell into a deep sleep and slept for 2 solid hours. We had to wake him at 7pm so we could feed him dinner before it got dark (he's at the rice cereal stage now). By 9pm he was doing just fine and we figured we'd give the show a shot. If he freaked out we could always carry him away from the action - historically he's done just fine as long as we are holding him.

So we clamped our hands over his ears and he watched the whole show. For perhaps the first half he was entranced by it. I've seen the same expression when we show him things like screensavers. During one section a long sequence of extremely bright fireworks went off one after the other and Theo blinked quite a bit, finally turning his head away and only looking back after those bright ones went away. After that I'm pretty sure he wasn't too happy but he's not the type to cry in those circumstances - he just waited it out with his big eyes wide.

I know, we're crazy. No one else would expect a 6 month old to watch fireworks. I guess we err on the side of giving him a chance to rise to the occasion, and 95% of the time he does. I only try these things because I know he's usually calm, and because I know I can deal with whatever the worst case scenario would be.

Ok, I'm posting this so it gets done. More soon. Make sure to check the Flip Share Video site. There's a permanent link on the side of my website, or if you want to get emails every time I post a new video there, email me at jenniesloan77@gmail.com and I'll add you to that list.